The reliability and internal consistency of the motivation rating scale and the general trait rating scale

The Motivation Rating Scale (MRS) and General Trait Rating (GTRS) Scales have been proposed as methods for assessing personality traits of athletes. The scales are easily accessible and are proposed for use as coaching tools. A coach's form and athlete's form of each test was administered to 149 male and female varsity high school basketball players and their coaches in eight different states. Means and standard deviations for all variables as well as test-retest reliability coefficients, trait inter-correlations, correlations between test forms, and Alpha coefficients were calculated. Results suggest that each of the four scales was independent of the others, with the coach's form of the MRS showing reasonable reliability and reasonable internal consistency for selected traits. There is some indication that "trait generalization" among coaches may inflate the test-retest reliability of the coach's form of the MRS. No convincing evidence is presented to support the notion that any of the four scales measure the traits the scales are purported to measure.